surprise announcement from prince andrew. what the queen's son is now doing after that uncomfortable interview about his friendship with jeffrey epstein the grandfather in court charged in a toddler's fatal cruise ship fall. what he told our correspondent about the tragedy. it's debate night. ten democrats facing off on stage and a rising star speaking out to us about an issue crushing so many american families the heart-stopping video. the out of control truck. and the split-second rescue the couple saved opening up to us about their close call and the former officers once hailed as heroes now called criminals after a deadly raid facing new charges tonight. >> announcer: this is "nightly news" with lester holt. >> good evening, everyone the stakes in the impeachment inquiry of president trump are higher tonight following the most explosive testimony yet. e.u. ambassador gordon sondland, a major trump campaign backer,

publicly testifying there was a quid pro quo, a pressure campaign on ukraine to extract politically-loaded investigations directed, he says, but president trump himself with rudy giuliani as pointman and sondland saying it wasn't a case of rogue diplomacy. rather, he said, everyone was in the loop it was no secret peter alexander has details. >> reporter: tonight bombshell testimony from gordon sondland, the trump donor turned diplomat turning against the president's key line of defense in the impeachment inquiry. that there was no quid pro quo involving ukraine. sondland, the ambassador to the european union, saying there was. >> was there a quid pro quo? as i testified previously with regard to the requested white house call and the white house meeting, the answer is yes. >> reporter: sondland emphasizing that it was widely known >> everyone was in the loop it was no secret again, everyone was in the loop

>> reporter: it started, sondland says, when the president directed him, energy secretary rick perry, and former special envoy kurt volker, the so-called three amigos, to work with rudy giuliani, the president's personal attorney, on ukraine. >> secretary perry, ambassador volker and i worked with mr. rudy giuliani on ukraine matters at the express direction of the president of the united states. we did not want to work with mr. giuliani simply put, we were playing the hand we were dealt so we followed the president's orders >> reporter: sondland, describing the quid pro quo, that in order for ukraine's president zelensky to get a white house meeting, he had to publicly announce investigations giuliani had been pushing for, including into the ukrainian company burisma that was employing hunter biden. >> mr. giuliani demanded that ukraine make a public statement announcing the investigations of

the 2016 election dnc server, and burisma. mr. giuliani was expressing the desires of the president of the united states. >> reporter: sondland revealing new emails he says prove his case and implicate some of the top officials in the trump administration including this august message to secretary of state mike pompeo, updating him on efforts to nail down ukraine's public statement. >> mike, referring to mike pompeo, kurt and i negotiated a statement from zelensky to be delivered for our review in a day or two. the contents will hopefully make the boss happy enough -- the boss being the president -- to authorize an invitation >> reporter: and he said other top officials were also in the loop >> and, in fact, you say other senior officials in the state department and the chiefs of staff's office, including mick mulvaney, secretary pompeo, were aware of

this quid pro quo that in order to get the white house meeting, there were going to have to be these investigations the president wanted >> correct >> reporter: but on the question of a quid pro quo for military aid that was being withheld at the time, sondland says he presumed the aid was tied to ukraine announcing investigations, but did not know for sure. >> the military assistance was also being withheld pending zelensky announcing these investigations, correct? >> that was my presumption. my personal presumption based on the facts at the time. nothing was moving >> reporter: sondland testifying the ukrainians asked him about the aid when they learned it was being withheld in late august >> you understood the ukrainians received no credible explanation, is that right? >> i certainly didn't -- couldn't give them one. >> so this kind of a two plus two equals four conclusion that you reached? >> pretty much >> the only logical conclusion to you that given all of these factors, that the aid was also a part of this quid pro quo? >> yep

>> reporter: sondland was not on the july call between president trump and zelensky, but does recall talking to the president the next day in that cell phone conversation an embassy staffer said he overheard in a ukrainian restaurant between the president and sondland >> i'm not going to dispute what he did or didn't hear. >> well, he also testified that you confirmed to president trump that you were in ukraine at the time, and that president zelensky, quote, loves your ass, unquote. do you recall saying that >> that sounds like something i would say. [ laughter ] that's how president trump and i communicate. a lot of four-letter words. in this case three letters. >> reporter: that staffer testifying that the president brought up the investigation. >> and you responded that he's going to do them or it, and that president zelensky will do anything you ask him to do. is that an accurate recitation of what happened there

>> i -- it could have been words to that effect i don't remember my exact response >> reporter: sondland saying in early september he asked vice-president pence about the aid. >> i was in a briefing with several people and i just spoke up and i said, it appears that everything is stalled until this statement gets made. the vice-president nodded, like, you know, he heard what i said and that was pretty much it as i recall. >> reporter: then on september 9th, the same day house democrats announced their investigation into the president's dealings with ukraine, sondland says he spoke to the president again, asking this question about why the aid was held up. >> what do you want from ukraine i keep hearing all these different ideas and theories and this and that what do you want and he just said, i want nothing i want nothing i want no quid pro quo. zelensky to do the right thing. >> reporter: republicans firing back sailiying the president did nothing

wrong. >> you said what do you want from ukraine? the president, i want nothing. i want no quid pro quo. >> reporter: highlighting ukraine eventually received military aid without announcing any investigations >> you got all three of them wrong. they get the call. they get the meeting they get the money it's not two plus two. it's 0 for 3 i've never seen anything like this >> reporter: and republicans seized on sondland's testimony that there is no direct link to president trump. >> i don't recall president trump ever talking to me about any security assistance, ever >> no one on this planet told you that president trump was tying aid to investigations, yes or no >> yes >> so you really have no testimony today that ties president trump to a scheme to withhold aid from ukraine in exchange for these investigations >> other than my own presumption. >> which is nothing. >> reporter: but democrats argue the aid was released after congress learned about the whistle-blower

complaint, and that the president wanted something that would help him politically >> who would benefit from an investigation of the bidens? >> i assume president trump would benefit. >> there we have it. see? >> reporter: and democrats say sondland bolsters their case that president trump committed an impeachable offense. >> it was the conditioning of official acts for something of great value to the president, these political investigations it goes right to the heart of the issue of bribery as well as other potential high crimes or misdemeanors so i think a very important moment in the mystery of this inquire. >> reporter: tonight a wave of push back to sondland's allegations. the vice-president saying he has no recollection of the discussion that sondland described the state department official saying that sondland's accusations about mike pompeo are flat-out false and rudy giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, saying that sondland is speculating. that he never met him, and that there was no quid pro quo lester >> peter alexander at

the white house. thanks meantime, nbc news has learned that the fbi wants to interview the whistle-blower who first called attention to that phone call by the president. pete williams is following this pete, what do we know about this >> reporter: well, according to people familiar with this, lester, the fbi has not interviewed the whistle-blower, but tried to arrange with his lawyers. law enforcement officials say some investigators at the fbi were concerned that the justice department so quickly concluded in september that president trump's phone call with the ukrainian president did not amount to a crime because there was no apparent violation of campaign finance laws these officials say some at the fbi believed a more thorough investigation should have been conducted into the circumstances of that call, and they wanted to talk to the whistle-blower for that reason. but it's apparent from the people familiar with this that the fbi's request is not for the whistle-blower himself to be under investigation, lester. >> all right, pete, thank you. the president declared today's impeachment hearing a big win. hallie jackson is at

the white house. hallie, what are you hearing? >> reporter: lester, president trump and his defenders are seizing on ambassador sondland's acknowledgment the president himself never explicitly linked military aid to those investigations that's after the president's allies scrambled to revise their talking points since our sources say they were initially expecting sondland's testimony to more clearly back up the president. president trump, look at this, taking notes, quite literally on what he heard and prematurely trying to declare victory. >> i think it was fantastic. i think they have to end it now so what does the president want i want nothing okay i want nothing and let me tell you, it's a hoax. it's a disgrace. it's an embarrassment to our country not only did we win today. it's over. >> reporter: the president also said he doesn't know sondland well, trying to distance himself from the e.u. ambassador he hired. lester >> hallie jackson at the white house. thanks chuck todd is here put sondland's testimony in perspective for us >> well, it's an

insider flipping on the president. this is somebody who worked with the president on this issue and says, yes, the democrats are right, this was a quid pro quo. hard stop. there's your headline. that's a big deal. now, i think democrats wish that sondland had more receipts, had more evidence, had more stuff to come with it to, to reinforce how is it that he presumed it was a quid pro quo but that's a big deal. i think now the democrats have to decide, is this enough or do they need to pursue -- do they need one more star witness? that one more star witness, i think, gordon sondland signalled today could very well be john bolton the former national security advisor. the reason for the star witness he would be the one that maybe could penetrate the republican bubble on capitol hill that might say, whoa, maybe we shouldn't stand by the president on all of this. >> all right chuck, thank you and we will be back with special coverage of the impeachment hearings tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. an unprecedented move in the royal family to tell you about. prince andrew with a surprise announcement

that he'll leave public life amid a deepening scandal over his friendship with convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein. here's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: less than a week after an interview widely described as disastrous >> you were staying at the house of a convicted sex offender >> it was a convenient place to stay. >> reporter: prince andrew, queen elizabeth's second son, made a surprise announcement he is stipulating down from all public duties writing in a statement, it has become clear to me over the last few days that the circumstances relating to my former association with jeffrey epstein have become a major disruption to my family's work. the prince, who expressed sympathy for epstein's victims and a willingness to work with law enforcement, also says in today's statement that he continues to unequivocally regret his ill-judged connection to the financier, something that was less than clear in the recent interview. >> do you regret the whole friendship with epstein?

>> now still not, for the reason being is that the, the people that i met and the opportunities that i was given to learn either by him or because of him were actually very useful >> reporter: since that interview, a number of companies and organizations started reconsidering their partnerships with the prince's initiatives. today the queen still attended an awards ceremony >> i congratulate you. >> reporter: the 93-year-old, no stranger to scandals in the royal family, now managing one of the worst of her lifetime stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york >> appearing in a puerto rico courtroom today, an indiana grandfather charged in a toddler's fatal plunge from a cruise ship for the first time we are hearing from prosecutors and that grandfather is speaking out to our kerry sanders. >> reporter: sam anello at court in san juan, puerto rico, this morning he's charged with

negligent homicide after his granddaughter chloe fell 11 stories to her death from a royal caribbean cruise ship during a family vacation in july anello was holding her in the children's play area on the railing next to an open window he thought was closed. how do you feel about the charges? >> reporter: anello not talking on camera today, but his attorneys say chloe's death was a horrible accident, not a crime. chloe's parents defending him last summer, speaking with nbc's savannah guthrie. >> at no point ever, ever has sam ever put our kids in danger >> reporter: among the evidence, unreleased security video from the ship >> we have a very solid case, but i'll give you more information about that at this point it's not possible >> reporter: but you feel confident it will show criminal act? >> of course >> reporter: anello did talk to me today off camera saying they

can't do anything worse to me than has already happened if convicted, he could face up to three years in prison here lester >> kerry sanders in puerto rico, thank you. just ahead tonight, new charges against two former police officers once hailed as heroes, but now accused of lying and a cover up in a deadly drug raid also, the dramatic rescue by state troopers we'll hear from the couple who narrowly escaped death on the road

two former houston police officers once hailed as heroes have been indicted as criminals by a federal grand jury after a botched deadly raid. here's miguel almaguer >> reporter: today in federal court, two former houston police officers who were once hailed as heroes, faced a judge, indicted on charges stemming from a police raid that left two people dead and four officers shot. >> we have officers shot, multiple officers shot. >> reporter: investigators say gerald and steven

falsified records. allegedly lying to attain a search warrant which led to the deadly shootout at this home. prosecutors say bryant later lied to cover for his partner. >> today is another step in that journey towards justice for the deceased individuals. >> reporter: after serving the no-knock warrant, five officers were engaged in a gun fight killing a husband and wife while police say small amounts of drugs, not including heroin, were found in the home. they claimed the couple were heroin dealers. a third defendant was also charged today with making false 911 calls, claiming the couple had machine gun. >> we have to abide by the constitutional requirements that we take an oath to follow >> reporter: with both men fighting the federal charges, the d.a. has also filed felony murder charges against gowens two former cops accused of being on the wrong side of the law. miguel almaguer, nbc news >> we have more up

next as the democratic candidates debate tonight. we'll hear from a rising star about what matters.

it is debate night. ten democratic presidential hopefuls facing off on msnbc. among them, entrepreneur andrew yang, who speaks to our harry smith about the soaring cost of health care in "what matters. >> reporter: at this new hampshire home, all-in for andrew yang we showed the tech entrepreneur what these democratic voters told us over and over. >> our deductible is still $10,000. >> reporter: they're worried about health care >> i have this pain in my back. i'm thinking i only have so much money to take care of my kids i work three jobs. i work more than 40 hours a week, and i still don't have any insurance. >> it's because we have a system that's designed not to maximize our health and well-being it's a system designed to maximize revenue on the part of private insurers, device companies, drug manufacturers. >> reporter: andrew yang proposes setting

prices for medical services, and moving doctors to salaries rather than fees he supports medicare for all who want it, a public option that he says will create competition. >> the fact is we don't have a genuinely competitive market right now in the health care industry for a variety of reasons. and this is a way to introduce competitive pressures in a real way. >> reporter: if these changes are going to be made, what will the bill be to the american taxpayer? >> well, that's the joy of it, harry right now if you start at a point where we're spending 18% of gdp, which we are, almost $4 trillion, to worse results than other countries, you can almost not help but save money >> reporter: more access with lower cost andrew yang's health care solution. harry smith, nbc news, bedford, new hampshire. >> up next, the couple who narrowly escaped death thanks to some heroic troopers.

finally tonight, the heart-stopping close call an illinois troopers hailed as heroes for a miracle rescue here's ron motte >> reporter: terror on ice. a box truck out of control. three people in jeopardy two state troopers escape harm. >> we just had a box truck slide off the road and hit us. i'm okay two injured in the ditch. >> reporter: peggy and her husband had little time to react. >> somebody yelled, run c run, and that's all i remember till i woke up in the ditch. >> reporter: in the ditch under the truck. >> are you okay? can you hear me? >> yes >> can you hear me >> i came out with just a broken arm, so i was very, very lucky. >> i'm not so sure how much luck there was,

but we were blessed. >> reporter: a live. >> god was watching out for us >> reporter: and well. ron motte, nbc news, chicago. >> an amazing save that's "nightly news." i'm lester holt. good night, everyone ♪ can't keep my hands to myself ♪ ♪ think i'll dust 'em off, put 'em back up on the shelf ♪ ♪ in case my little baby girl is in need ♪ ♪ am i coming out of left field? ♪

♪ ooh woo, i'm a rebel just for kicks, now ♪ ♪ i been feeling it since 1966, now ♪ ♪ might be over now, but i feel it still ♪ ♪ ooh woo, i'm a rebel just for kicks, now ♪ ♪ let me kick it like it's 1986, now ♪ ♪ might be over now, but i feel it still ♪ ♪ goodbye to my hopes and dreams ♪ ♪ stop flipping for my enemies ♪ we could wait until the walls come down ♪ ♪ it's time to give a little to the ♪ ♪ kids in the middle, but oh 'til it falls ♪ ♪ won't bother me ♪ ooh woo, i'm a rebel just for kicks, yeah ♪ ♪ i've been feeling it since 1966, now ♪ ♪ might be over now, but i feel it still ♪

♪ ooh woo, i'm a rebel just for kicks, now ♪ ♪ let me kick it like it's 1986, now ♪ ♪ might be over now, but i feel it still ♪ ♪ might've had your fill, but you feel it still ♪ [cheers and applause] >> kelly: hi, y'all, welcome to "the kelly clarkson show"! all right, who requested "feel it still," where's monica at? hi, monica, why did you pick that song? >> hi, kelly. the reason i picked this on this because the sound came out when i graduated college and i was honestly like the biggest rebel phase of my entire life. i had just come back from studying abroad in australia where i was on a high from traveling, getting tattoos, dying my hair, going bungee jumping. >> kelly: i want your life, what? >> i want to